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Letters to the editor Wednesday

Posted: April 9, 2013 - 11:04pm | Updated: April 10, 2013 - 12:40am

It is a pity and an American shame that most National Rifle Association members don’t have the courage of the 6-year-old first grader who stood in the path of the Newtown gunman and said to his friends, “Run! Run now!”

What a leader that child would have — should have — made for our country.

And what a poor example U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gave by walking out of the hearing while that bereaved father was speaking.

Reasonable gun control laws don’t hamper anyone’s freedom. After all, we don’t make murder legal just because criminals will continue to kill.

ROWENNA B. FRIPP

Savannah

New tennis facility in Armstrong’s future

In response to Jeff Mell’s letter to the editor (“Shame on AASU for its ‘horrible’ tennis courts,” April 2), I appreciate his support of Armstrong’s national championship men’s and women’s tennis teams and would like to take this opportunity to offer an update of Armstrong’s efforts toward a new tennis facility.

The university is currently in the planning stage for a new facility, and the design phase will follow shortly.

It is an ambitious task that will take the support of both the campus and community, and we welcome any and all involvement from our Pirate supporters, alumni and community to help us in this endeavor.

In the meantime, we continue to try to work with our current courts. We resurfaced four of them last year, so our teams can practice on campus. Unfortunately, the soil under the courts is the root of the problem, causing surface cracks more frequently than normal.

Armstrong’s men’s and women’s tennis teams have a great deal of support from Savannah and our campus community, as do all of our athletic teams. We have just added a full-time assistant coach to work under Simon Earnshaw, our award-winning tennis coach who has greatly contributed to our teams’ success.

All of our players are supported with scholarships on some level, and the team funding allows them to travel to find the best competition in the country, preparing them for NCAA tournament play.

Armstrong is fortunate to have the relationship we do with Bacon Park, to use those top-notch facilities while we work to secure funding for our own, one fit for our national championship student-athletes and all Pirate fans.

LISA SWEANY

Athletic Director

Armstrong Atlantic State University

Savannah

The Bible says it, and that’s final

In response to Joel Spivak’s April 4 letter to the editor (“Sane minds trump outdated principles in Bible”), there is nothing outdated about the word of God.

It is the same today and yesterday. The word of Jesus Christ stands on its own. The writer was able to quote scripture in the Bible from the Old Testament. But he forgot one (Lev. 18:22): Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination.

Same sex marriage is a sin and we can’t ever change that.

We know that two men and two women can’t have children. That in itself defines it.

It is sick and the word of Christ says it is confusion.

What are we telling our children? That this is OK when we know it’s wrong? The Lord will judge us for it.

DOROTHY SMALLS

Savannah

Federal Reserve digging a massive debt hole

Countries that spend beyond their means for an extended period typically go through a similar progression. First, borrowing. Then printing money to excess.

Next, there are multiple attempts to tax the wealthy and businesses at higher rates. Then come monetary policies designed to compel the sale of safe investments protected in treasuries, pecious metals and mattresses.

Finally, there’s confiscation of cash from bank accounts.

The United States went through the first stage for several decades, selling Treasury bonds to China and countries looking for safety and moderate yield.

We have been in the money-printing stage for more than four years.

Taxes on high-income earners and corporations were recently increased, and the Obama administration insists on more, while requesting higher spending.

The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing tactics are foolproof in achieving its goals. It has essentially taken over the treasuries market, buying 90 percent or more of all bonds using its unique heavy-handed position.

The Fed’s strategy is to drive down yields and accept the lowest coupon rate possible. This is the Fed’s legally questionable method of minimizing the long-term cost of its massive capital injection called QE.

The Fed’s monthly bond purchase using this tactic equals the total amount of the recent sequesters. The importance of this under-reported fact is huge. If QE is canceled for a single month, then we get the equivalent effect of two sequesters. We are dug into a massive debt hole.

EVERETT STEPHENSON

Savannah

OK, laugh at presidents, but it’s wrong to disrespect them

In response to your editorial “Comic relief: No laughing matter” on April 3, there are some people who think that it is a big deal to poke fun at the powers that be.

Needless to say, Egypt does not have the freedom of speech that we Americans are so lucky to have, and how fortunate we are not to be thrown into jail for expressing our thoughts.

Yet, on the other hand, I feel we have often abused our freedom of speech.

While some may find it amusing to unmercifully ridicule our highest officials and poke fun at them, to me it is extremely disrespectful.

Even though some have chosen to poke fun at Washington on down to President Obama, I think it shows great disrespect for our highest office.

True, laughter is a great medicine for a “sick nation,” but I suspect and fear that a great deal of that laughter is caused by a few “sick people.”

Comic relief is needed, but in this day and time, we ought to be about building each other up and laughing with each other.

Don’t find ways to detrimentally poke fun at our democracy, which, as you say, can get messy. That in itself can turn to more protests, strikes and riots, and who wants that?

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New gun control laws, reasonable or otherwise, don't hamper criminal activities, including murder. Criminals don't obey current laws and they won't obey new ones either. So please tell us how any of the proposals would have prevented the Newtown killings. Even one of the grieving parents admitted on 60 Minutes that the proposed laws wouldn't have prevented the deaths. To paraphrase, these new gun control measures wouldn't have helped, but let's do it anyway.

And new gun control laws DO hamper the freedom of gun owners. If I believe that I need 15 rounds in my pistol for home defense, but the government says I can only buy a 10-round magazine. My freedom has just been hampered. And don't bother trying to tell me that 15 rounds is unreasonable when most law enforcement agencies authorize their officers to carry multiple high capacity magazines. During a home invasion, I will likely only have the ammunition loaded in the gun while the criminal initiating the confrontation will bring whatever he feels necessary.

Now if your "reasonable" gun control laws can guarantee that I won't be out gunned by criminals, then I might listen. If these new laws can guarantee the safety of my family, I might listen. Until then, any new law that I feel hampers my freedom is, in my opinion, unreasonable. So let's just agree to disagree. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to see those "Gun Free Zone" or "We Support Gun Control" yard signs/targets proudly displayed. As they say "Put up or shut up."

allow our elected officials to regulate gun control they will not enact reasonable gun control. They will make it very difficult to buy a gun. They will make it very difficult for a law abiding citizen to own a gun. These people have been there four years now so we should know how they think. I can just see it now. If you have ever gotten a speeding ticket you can't own a gun. If you ever got caught with booze or drugs when you were a kid, you can never own a gun. If you go to a psychiatrist or have ever been to a psychiatrist you are not fit to own a gun. If you are on any kind of anti depressant you can't own a gun. If a background check came back and says you are a model citizen but you got into a fist fight with another kid in the 7th grade over a girl, then that disqualifies you from owning a gun.

They want to take our freedoms away from us a little at a time. If you don't believe that just wait until Obamacare becomes fully implemented.

Who was the City Manager at Tybee for many, many years then your guess is WRONG. Her 3 children all have done well, and her son is a military officer. I don't necessarily agree with her views, and are reading " more or less" the intent. It was disrespectful to walk out in the middle when someone is speaking. ( I would have never shown up for that dog and pony show :-) This is a emotional subject to many and as such, brings out many differing views. IF this is Tybee's C.M of yester years, then I believe she may, like so many of us have a hard time wrapping their heads around acts like this, and" today's new world". I would just say " Thank you for your SERVICE and enjoy your retirement."

Obama was in office four years, and there were no efforts toward federal gun legislation coming from the White House until the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults died. That is what provided their motivation, along with Aurora Colorado and the attempted murder of a Congresswoman, and it is so damn obvious here that one can only roll their eyes at assertions that this is some kind of nefarious conspiracy. This stuff would be comical if you all didn't go about believing in the lies and distortions.

Secondly, the proposals on the federal level have been modest. If you think that background checks are too big of an impediment, then I can only shake my head. Background checks for all gun sales is a no-brainer. I think the limitation of magazine size also makes sense. Despite the howling to the contrary, I haven't run across any of my gun owning friends that own magazines holding over 10 bullets yet, and I know a fair number of hunters. Law abiding citizens don't need them, and their legal sale enables criminals to get them down the line. Better to not have them in circulation.

I haven't really been supportive of the assault weapons ban, because I think that there are many weapons that are just as capable as the ones that are listed in the legislation, so that ban would not really do much and is merely symbolic. I don't think we should waste our legislative powers on symbolic gestures.

So in sum, your rant is devoid of a factual basis. The basic freedom to own a weapon is not under attack, at least not at the federal level, and anything you've heard to the contrary is pure malarkey.

The arguments are intense in both directions. I hope the Supremes will let each state decide its own direction. Personally, evolutionarily, and societally, I balk at this latest push by the Rights Industry to secure yet another right. What no one on the activist side has answered to my satisfaction is this : If that then why not this? And where do you stop the deracinating cascade? From pedophiles to poly-this and poly-that waiting in the wings is a host of "me toos".

the argument that pedos are somehow comparable to gays is of course a red herring. We have laws of consent, and the state has a manifest interest in protecting minors and others incapable of legal consent. Likewise, multiple partner marriages are not between two people, and our entire laws of inheritance and property are built upon the assumption that a marriage is between two people. While the sex will not matter, the number in the marriage of course will.

Finally, no state should have the discretion to violate a fundamental liberty such as the right to marry. The Supremes reached the correct decision in Loving v. Virginia back in 1967 concerning statutes forbidding inter-racial unions. They should follow along the same line of reasoning to forbid the states from prohibiting same sex marriages today.

I think you underestimate the cunning ways in which the left can torture language until it confesses new definitions. Who is to say that 'pairing' can just as easily mean threesome or 'adult' become 11 or 12? A group agitates, the Court accomodates. All done at the secular altar of 'Rights'. Speaking of adult, if chronologic age is the major, if not sole, criterion for marital union what then of brother-sister, grandfather-granddaughter, mother-son arrangements? You scoff but then again 50 years ago you would have laughed at today's headlines. It has been said that conservatives hold a generally glum pessimistic view of the species. Wonder why.

Just remember Chicago politics 101, " NEVER LET A GOOD CRISIS GO TO WASTE". I don't trust anyone from the government that uses the term reasonable when talking about giving up liberty for safety. What is it the feminist say to the government? Stay out of my womb? Well I say, " stay out of my gun cabinet.

What planet do you live on. It must be the planet called "Oz". I' guess we will just have to wait and see if my "rants" will become reality. Obama has lied to us since day one. I don't need to provide "proof". Haven't you listened to his speeches before the 2008 elections. If you haven't then you they must not have news programs, talk shows. or talk radio in the land of Oz.

Before Aurora and Sandy Hook there was no reason for the left to think it would be possible to change any gun laws. But Sandy Hook was the "last straw". The thought of little children being mowed down as if they were in a war zone is so horrendous that our left wing president believed that he would actually get support for enacting some form of gun control, the more the better. And yes, the thought of those little children and their teachers being murdered in this way is truly horrific. I'm sure most people thought. My God, that could have been my child.

But the way to fight gun killing is with gun killing. Just like you fight fire with fire.

If Sandy Hook had armed guards patrolling their campus the killer would have found another school without armed guards.

You say the the gun proposals are modest. Well how do we know that. Yes, they will submit a bill. But who is to say they will even read it before it passes.

"If the killer had known there were armed guards, they would have been the first targets."

"You have no know of knowing that."

What was reported was that the shooter took his own life before an armed response arrived at the school. Why do you suppose he did that? He wasn't out of ammo and had extra guns. We may never know why he stopped shooting and took his own life. We do know that he chose not to engage in a gunfight though.

I do know this. If Sandy Hook had armed guards, those victims would have had a better chance at survival. Doc, if your statement had any foothold in reality, how do you explain the employment of armed guards, including off duty cops? Why spend the money and provide "targets" to the lunatics? Criminals and lunatics prefer defenseless victims, gun-free zones and are usually cowards. Tell you what. We've tried the gun-free school zone with tragic results. Why not try guarding our children for a while and see how that works out? We always hear that our children are the most precious part of our lives, so why not protect them like they are?

Let me expand my statement about "if Sandy Hook had an armed guard etc..." All schools need armed guards. There are many retired military and retired cops that would be happy to take a job patrolling school campuses. Protecting our children should be a priority. There are other programs that can be cut to pay for this. There is a lot waste of taxpayer money that can pay for this too. All school wings should be locked until it is time to change classes. Yes, it is sad to know that it must feel like prison for these kids but we can not have another Sandy Hook. And we all know that no matter how many laws are enacted per: gun control, the sickos who do this sort of thing will not obey any gun laws.

All of this violence in school makes a good argument for parents to home school their children. In my neighborhood there is a lady who home schools her children as well as their neighbors children

By your very witty and insightful comment about our mental state, and this coming from someone with space in their screen name. You should try stand up, it is better suited for one liners, but not for reasoned discourse.

Your reply was just more of the same fact less verbiage that you penned in the post I replied to initially. You really go off the rails when you try to equate Obama and the "The Left" (whatever that moniker is supposed to mean). In case you haven't noticed, Obama regularly [filtered word] off the liberals in his party. In fact, he is currently pissing them off royally. But, when you listen to propaganda on your TV all day long from Roger Ailes and crew, it is no wonder you think the Prez is Chairman Mao. It is pretty amusing to watch so many of you on this site make it pretty clear that you haven't a clue what you are talking about when it comes to Obama. :-)

I've met home schooled children. What I've seen at least, hasn't been pretty. Think of it this way: How many parents out there are capable of giving their children a good education, and providing them with the exposure to social situations which they will need to learn to handle in order to be successful and happy in their lives? If you think about it clearly, I think you'd agree that it is the rare parent capable of doing it well. There may be some, but the exception will not prove to be the rule.

I do have a tendency to get carried away and say things that should not be on a forum for all to see. Some things need to stay private. It's just that Silly Minister says that I just sit around all day and watch FOX NEWS as if the world begins and ends with any news program whether it be FOX or NBC.. Watching news programs or even watching T.V. at all is not what I do all day. Guess what Silly, there are some things that are more important and bigger than you and me. It's a big world out there and we are mere little pieces of sand grit on the beach. You do not know me at all and have no clue as to how I came to form my own opinions. And I can tell you one thing you arrogant pr.... I base my opinions on what I am seeing happening to our country. My Dad fought in WW11. He went to war in Europe right out of high school at 17 years old. My husband went to Viet Nam and did his duty over there. My brother went to Viet Nam and got his hip bone, pelvis and some of his colon shot out of him. It took him over a year and several surgeries to get his life back.

War is horrible. But the people who go to war for our country are American heroes.

There are too many important things going on in this life that the opinions of Southern belle and Minister of Silly Walks will mean nothing.

I see no need to comment on this thread anymore. It just gets frustrating trying to respond to anyone who thinks he is better and smarter than the rest of us. Well guess what. Being educated is not the same thing as being smart. Yes, it should go hand in hand but life doesn't always work out that way.

If I had actually said even 1/4 of what you claim I said, I would be embarrassed. I apologize for the "all day long" in my post. I didn't really mean that literally, but, in text it is very difficult to glean the author's demeanor or intent and should have written something else. So, I apologize. I didn't intend to insult, but I did, so the fault lays with me.

I do maintain that your news source gives you a very distorted view of political reality. It is pretty apparent to me where you get a lot of your info because of the things you post. But whatever, I don't mean to degrade you by reference to that. My point is that I think you have a distorted picture due to the information you hear, see and believe.

Finally, I have come from a long line of military service in my family. I know the sacrifice well, and have nothing but respect for anyone that has served.